Retailers and manufacturers often sponsor incentive programs to persuade consumers to buy their products and services. These incentives include a wide variety of consumer information such as discount coupons, whereby a consumer may redeem the coupon when purchasing an associated product or service. Another incentive may include price deductions by discounting items by a designated percentage.
Traditionally, coupons and other consumer information have been distributed in a paper form in mass mailings or newspaper inserts. More recently, the marketing industry has begun to use the concept of an electronic coupon or “e-coupon,” which can be distributed online much as coupons have been distributed via newspapers and mail packs. Electronic coupons can be displayed by displaying coupons online to a consumer and allowing the consumer to download the coupons to the consumer's personal computer.
Modern telecommunications systems have enabled a great deal of consumer mobility. Consumers may travel throughout local areas or across long distances and yet remain in communication with others via wireless or landline telephones, e-mail, instant messaging, audio and video conferencing, and other facilities. Cellular wireless is an increasingly popular means of personal communication in the modern world. People are using cellular wireless networks for the exchange of voice and data over cellular telephones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), cellular telephone modems, and other devices. In principle, a user can seek information over the Internet or call anyone over a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) from any place inside the coverage area of the cellular wireless network.
An important feature of contemporary cellular wireless networks is an ability to locate the geographical position of a mobile station. Such a feature was developed to assist emergency services in locating a mobile station. For example, in the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandated the implementation of “Enhanced 911” (“E911”) services, where the location of a mobile station must be identified with an accuracy of at least cell and sector, followed by an accuracy of at least 100 meters.
In many cases, having the ability to locate the position of a mobile station will lead to providing location-based services to mobile subscribers. This will involve (i) determining the position of the mobile station and (ii) providing the mobile station with a set of information representing establishments at or near that position. The user may request this information, or a service provider may periodically offer information to the user. The web service provider may obtain the mobile station's location and then provide the subscriber with a web page that lists the information located within a small distance from the mobile station's location.
Furthermore, the ability to identify the current position of a mobile station may allow providers in the vicinity to provide commercial services and information to the user of the mobile station through the cellular wireless network. Thus, the user of the mobile station may inquire about what services are offered in his vicinity, and the cellular wireless network will provide such information to the user. The user might then have the option of establishing a connection with any chosen provider and receiving the services offered by the provider.
Having such location-based services may allow a mobile station's user to inquire about services in any vicinity. For example, the Personal Communications Service (PCS) provided by the Sprint Spectrum, LP of Kansas City, Mo., allows the user to roam anywhere in the United States that is within the coverage of the Sprint PCS service. Thus, if the user is away from his home area, the user may activate a micro-browser on his mobile station and request consumer information such as coupons, advertisements, or general consumer information in his vicinity. General information may consist of, but is not limited to, store locations, store hours, and store services.
Cellular wireless carriers and third party application providers have thus recognized the commercial significance of this new-found location information, well beyond use of the information for emergency services. In particular, knowing where a mobile station is located, a service provider may now provide a wide range of valuable location based services. Merely as examples, a service provider can (i) help a mobile subscriber plan a route from the subscriber's current location to another designated location, (ii) inform the subscriber of services (e.g., restaurants, fuel stations, hotels, theatres, hospitals, etc.) in the subscriber's vicinity, and (iii) notify the subscriber of traffic conditions and weather conditions in the subscriber's vicinity.
Mobile electronic commerce (ME-commerce) is a growing industry for consumers using mobile stations. ME-commerce allows a consumer to obtain desirable information at any moment in time. This may provide consumers with alternative shopping methods. ME-commerce may provide real-time product price information as well. Furthermore, ME-commerce may assist a mobile station user by providing customer service and consumer information. However, a mobile station has a limited user output, either in the form of a small-size display or a voice generated output. This limited output restricts the amount of information which may be reasonably conveyed, thus limiting the usefulness of information sent to the consumer.